Patty Larkin’s 25 years as a recording artist have gone by quickly — but not necessarily in a flash.

“Oh, it seems like 25 years,” the 59-year-old singer, songwriter and guitarist says with a laugh. “I think if I just even measure it by technology or how many times I’ve played a certain place or the changes in the industry or even seeing new generations of singers come up two or three times in that period ... yeah, it feels like I’ve been doing this for a while.”

Larkin chose to commemorate her silver anniversary with “25,” a two-CD set on which she recasts songs from throughout her career as duet pieces with pals such as Rosanne Cash, Shawn Colvin, Suzanne Vega, Mary Chapin Carpenter and others. It was a labor of love that came at a rough point of her life — Larkin had just lost her mother — but also gave her a welcome sense of what she’d accomplished to this point.

“The whole thing happened little by little,” recalls Larkin, who’s currently working on material for a new album. “I invited a few people on and they said yes, then another group ... and pretty soon it just grew into these 25 artists, which blew me away.

“People were extremely generous with their time and their art. I was just able to receive all this music coming back to the house, the studio, via FedEx, like a miracle with every package. It was like Christmas morning every day.”

Patty Larkin performs at 7 and 8:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 26, as part of Friday Night Live! at the Detroit Institute of Arts, 5200 Woodward Ave. The event is included in regular museum admission prices. Call 313-833-7900 or visit www.dia.org.